AMD is on course to releasing its latest "Southern Islands" GPU family, and a fleet of desktop graphics card SKUs based on it, which will be led by a new high-performance GPU, codenamed "Tahiti", which will make up Radeon HD 7900 series; followed by performance GPU "Pitcairn", on which HD 7800 series will be based; "Thames" and "Lombok" making up the rest of the lineup. According to a report by DonanimHaber, HD 7970 (working name) is expected to be competitive with (or outperform) GeForce GTX 580, and priced at US $499. The HD 7950 will be competitive with (again, or outperform) GeForce GTX 570, being priced at US $399.

Things get interesting with Pitcairn, which is the successor of "Barts". This performance GPU is designed for sweet-spot SKUs, such as HD 7870 and HD 7850, which will be competitive with GeForce GTX 560 Ti / GTX 560, and priced at US $299 and $199, respectively. The Radeon HD 7670 will be particularly expensive, priced at US $179, followed by HD 7650 at $119. Further, it was reported that HD 7970 and HD 7950 will have a standard memory size of 3 GB.

With the speculation/rumor/whatever that 7870 and 7850 are going to be die shrunk 6970/6950 with performance tweaks I see them competing more with the 570 then the 560. Then again it's just speculation/rumor/whatever...

Price, if true, says most of what to expect. High price point for the flagship, I'd say high prices for all the top end offerings in the 7000 series, unexpectedly high from AMD. So I think we'll see a fair jump in performance compared to the 580/570. We might see cheaper Nvidia high-end cards when AMD will launch. But I can't justify spending 500$ or Euro for a card if used only for gaming considering what games we are offered today.

They‘ll need to be real powerhouse's to demand this price. I don't know why AMD would diverge from what has been a perfectly good and working strategy of ample Perf/$ and Perf/Watt. Move into stratosphere pricing and it really cuts out who can buy these especially in today economy. I don’t bother that it's delivering GTX590 performance… There’s a price for PC gaming and the constant progression of what the enthusiast needs/requires; however admirable I just feel AMD missing the opportunity to go for the jugular. Considering the Cayman MSRP for what $300/370 the new pricing is like 33% higher! They had better bring Game that’s all I have to say. Just besting a GTX580 by 20% for $500 isn't what I’m talking about. Kick in 25% over the 580... and for $470 and you’ve a smack-down.

The problem is probably TSMC and the yields. A great design and execution, but woefully hampered by manufacturing and we all know it's availability that drives price. I suppose they could wait a month or so a build inventory, but the piece price would still be the same while then everyone will cry they're delayed. You got to go, with what you can.

They‘ll need to be real powerhouse's to demand this price. I don't know why AMD would diverge from what has been a perfectly good and working strategy of ample Perf/$ and Perf/Watt. Move into stratosphere pricing and it really cuts out who can buy these especially in today economy. I don’t bother that it's delivering GTX590 performance… There’s a price for PC gaming and the constant progression of what the enthusiast needs/requires; however admirable I just feel AMD missing the opportunity to go for the jugular. Considering the Cayman MSRP for what $300/370 the new pricing is like 33% higher! They had better bring Game that’s all I have to say. Just besting a GTX580 by 20% for $500 isn't what I’m talking about. Kick in 25% over the 580... and for $470 and you’ve a smack-down.

The problem is probably TSMC and the yields. A great design and execution, but woefully hampered by manufacturing and we all know it's availability that drives price. I suppose they could wait a month or so a build inventory, but the piece price would still be the same while then everyone will cry they're delayed. You got to go, with what you can.

While it is, do I... you, the gaming community generally really need it or willing to pay? Those who have the means can/will, and I suppose that's good for the rest of us. Though, to get a 7870 (basically a faster/lower power 6970) for what's said to be $300 at the start has a good feel to it!

While it is, do I... you, the gaming community generally really need it or willing to pay? Those who have the means can/will, and I suppose that's good for the rest of us. Though, to get a 7870 (basically a faster/lower power 6970) for what's said to be $300 at the start has a good feel to it!

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Depending on resolution and the number of monitors in a potential eyefinity setup then yes a "fair" size portion of people are more than willing to pay it, just look at the people currently with CF 6950's or 6970's as well as those with GTX 580's in SLI.

With the speculation/rumor/whatever that 7870 and 7850 are going to be die shrunk 6970/6950 with performance tweaks I see them competing more with the 570 then the 560. Then again it's just speculation/rumor/whatever...

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Just outta curiosity would you be able to then crossfire a 6950/6970 with a 7850/7870, it might be a dumb question though. I believe the drivers separate crossfire according to core classification and code number (69xx,68xx,67xx etc).

Hmmm. 3GB worth of memory on a video card? Seems a bit too overkill, even for the enthusiasts. 2GB seems to be plenty in todays hardcore PC gaming standards. Its the dam Rambus they're using , I'm hoping they provide a 2GB version of that XDR 7950 for a lower price point, however that's wishful thinking.
But I guess if the performance is increased enough, I think the price is justified. But I always hate it when new flagships debut at $499, I really really do.

Just outta curiosity would you be able to then crossfire a 6950/6970 with a 7850/7870, it might be a dumb question though. I believe the drivers separate crossfire according to core classification and code number (69xx,68xx,67xx etc).

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Nope. You have to CrossFire according to series, 69xx w/ 69xx, 58xx w/ 58xx, etc.

Hmmm. 3GB worth of memory on a video card? Seems a bit too overkill, even for the enthusiasts.

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Nah, all the extra vram comes in nicely with very high resolution textures and other things that use the memory buffer. This really helps with things like Eyefinity which is something AMD likes to promote.

now I would like to see something worthwhile for 500$ so that the 300$ or less parts end up more than competitive but 500$ has been a good sweet spot for flagship cards ever since the 9700 Pro.

Now we'll have to see how the 7970 compares with the 6970 to see if the price is justified. If it matches or beats nvidias next gen flagship then it's justified. If it just barely matches the 580 and thus is just slightly faster than the 6970 it's no where near justified.